Book Review – Butterfly Weeds by Laura Miller

I need to be clear on the rating first. To me, it was a 4 star book that pulled 5 star emotions out of me. The hero was a 5 star hero. The heroine though made 3 star decisions. Ok, on to the review.

WOW. I don’t even know where to start on this one!

I. SOBBED.

S O B B E D.

Seriously, guys. Ugly tears at the end. That LETTER!!! *wipes tears*

Like I actually spent 10 minutes curled up in my husband’s arms crying.

Ok, first off, don’t be freaked out. Its technically a HEA in that they spend the rest of their lives together, but it was a long and rough journey to get there.

Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Ok.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I loved it in so many ways but I disagreed with a lot of the heroine’s actions. My heart completely and utterly BROKE for the hero over and over again. But at the same time, maybe it felt very … real? *deep breath* Its hard to judge.

Basically, Will and Jules had known each other since they were kids. As teens, they fell in love and were together for several years until college when their long distance relationship made their relationship harder to maintain and Jules decided she wanted a break…. over the next decade, they went their separate ways – occasionally connecting, occasionally intersecting. Will was and always had been madly in love with Jules. She was always his forever girl. The “one” for him. She just couldn’t see it…. it took them a decade of heart ache and missed opportunities but they did eventually find their way back together – to where they were always meant to be.

Its weird but this book felt very… real, in some ways. I feel like the mistakes were ones that have probably happened a lot in the world. But still. I’m sorry to say that I just strongly didn’t agree with the heroine’s decisions and actions. She was not annoying, not a bitch, nothing like that. She was actually very sweet and kind hearted. But she was just SO incredibly indecisive and, honestly, just plain dense for not realizing the beauty and preciousness of what was right in front of her with Will – of what she walked away from. It got to a point where it was really making me mad (and very sweary). Every decision she made was just wrong wrong WRONG!!! One of them in particular even made me have to put the book down for a bit afterwards to calm down before I could continue.

My heart HURT just SO much for Will. Literally, I felt mine being ripped to shreds right along with him. Seriously, the PAIN was almost physical. He was just SO sweet, and kind, and perfect, and just so TOTALLY in love with her!!! God. Just broke. my. heart. seeing what she kept doing to him (however unintentionally).

He’s a singer – not like a rockstar per say, but he ends up getting pretty famous and throughout the years, she hears his songs on the radio. He’s always called her his butterfly. Look, here’s a song snippet *SNIFF*

Now you’ve come back home
Tell me you’ve carried me with you
That you’ve held me close
Tell me you’ve missed me
Or that I’m not crazy for waiting cause
Of all the butterflies that chose to stay
I’m in love with the one that got away

And yet STILL she’s unsure?? :/

This book was really one of those that just reached right in and squeezed my heart. I cried a few times during the book – just a little – but, at the end, I SOBBED so much!!!! Ugly Tears. Like throat hurting, heart aching, out of breath, can’t think ugly tears!!! It was just SO freaking BEAUTIFUL what he did for her!!!! Totally solidifying all my thoughts of how utterly PERFECT Will was. Think The Notebook style ending… not exactly the same but similar. *sob sob sob*

The progression of the book though is very unclear. It starts out present day in the first chapter. Then in the second, without being marked, it skips back to when Jules and Will were teenagers and falling in love. From there the story moves chronologically forward only, catching up to the present day and going beyond. BUT! The time progression is unclear and unmarked. Sometimes there’s less than an hour between chapters, sometimes its a few weeks or months or years. There is no indication and you kind of have to figure it out as you go that I will say that it threw me a little and just you should know so that you go into it expecting it so it hopefully wont throw you too.

Like I said earlier, I had several issues with heroine’s actions and decisions but the hero was darn near perfect (in a good way). My heart just went right out to him in so many ways. And this book absolutely pulled 5 star emotions out of me. There are very few books out there that have made me full-out sob. This is one of them.

If you’re looking for a book that’ll give you a good cry, this is absolutely it.

It was a pretty quick read – I read it a few hours. The writing style is beautiful and really pulls you emotionally into the story.

love your reviews! they’re always so full of passion and makes an avid reader like myself want to run to amazon and press the “click only once” button. i hope once i get my book published, you will do me the honor of reviewing it as well 🙂

Omg I totally agree with this review. I loved the book! I loved Will! And the decisions made by Jules made me want to pull all my hair out!
This is one of my all-time favourite book because I just LOVED how much Will loved Jules and all that he does for her.